5 things to know about Beatlemania

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 3:43 PM ET, Mon August 25, 2014

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America falls in love with the Beatles – The Beatles arrived in the United States 50 years ago and embarked on a history-making path of pop culture dominance. Check out coverage of "The Sixties: The British Invasion," a look at how the Fab Four's influence persists. Click through the gallery for more images of the Beatles' first American tour.

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America falls in love with the Beatles15 photos

America falls in love with the Beatles – The Beatles arrive in New York on February 7, 1964. The band from Liverpool, England, already had the No. 1 U.S. single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," but its U.S. visit confirmed that "Beatlemania" had made its way across the pond.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – The band waves to cameras at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Beatles fans are restrained by police at the airport.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Three of The Beatles -- from left, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and John Lennon -- wave from a horse-drawn carriage in New York's Central Park on February 8, 1964. George Harrison was off resting a sore throat.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Television host Ed Sullivan, center, stands with The Beatles on February 9, 1964, during a rehearsal for the band's appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The iconic television appearance remains one of the highest-rated nonsports programs of all time. Nielsen estimated that 45% of the country watched the show -- more than 73 million people then.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – A car belonging to The Beatles is besieged by fans in New York on February 10, 1964.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – The Beatles have their pictures taken as they sit on a train taking them from New York to Washington on February 11, 1964.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – The Beatles perform on stage at the Washington Coliseum on February 11, 1964. It was their first U.S. concert.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Fans run to catch a glimpse of The Beatles while the band was in New York.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Fans cheer for The Beatles and hold signs of encouragement during the band's concert at Carnegie Hall on February 12, 1964, in New York.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – From left, McCartney, Lennon and Harrison share a microphone as they sing a song at Carnegie Hall.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Ecstatic fans await The Beatles outside the Plaza Hotel, where the band was staying in New York during its tour.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – Lines form down the street from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, as fans wait to see The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on February 16, 1964. It was a week after the band's first appearance on the show.

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America falls in love with the Beatles – The Beatles enjoy Miami Beach.

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Story highlights

It's been 50 years since the Beatles appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show"

Here are five things you need to know about Beatlemania and the significance of the Beatles' performance on Ed Sullivan's show:

1. Who was Ed Sullivan?

Edward Vincent Sullivan was not what you think of as a TV personality. He was a baggy-eyed, malaprop-mouthed, stiff-bodied former newspaper columnist who looked like Richard Nixon. A wall had more charisma.

But he was the perfect host. He said his introductions and got out of the way. His guests were the stars -- and he could book almost everybody, thanks to his deep contacts. You might compare his show to an hour of Web-surfing. It featured everybody from plate-spinners to comedians to theatrical performances to pop stars, all in one place. Animal acts, too.

Just Watched

50th Anniversary of Beatlemania

"The Ed Sullivan Show," originally called "Toast of the Town," went on the air in 1948 and lasted for 23 years.

2. Were The Beatles really unknown in America?

Not completely. In Britain, they'd had No. 1 singles for several months, starting with "Please Please Me" in February 1963, and by fall Beatlemania was in full swing. (The word "Beatlemania" first gained wide currency in October after the band's performance on a major UK TV show, "Sunday Night at the London Palladium.")

Sullivan first encountered the band by accident -- he was stuck at London's Heathrow Airport when they returned from Sweden to thousands of fans on October 31 -- but the group was on the show's radar before then, Sullivan staffer Vince Calandra says. The show put out a press release about The Beatles' three-show booking in mid-December, and The New Yorker ran a small item in its December 28, 1963, issue. The Beatles had also appeared in several U.S. news reports.

In December, the band's U.S. label, Capitol Records, started a marketing blitz -- "The Beatles Are Coming!" -- and by January their songs were all over the radio. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" hit No. 1 in the United States on February 1, dethroning balladeer Bobby Vinton's "There! I've Said It Again."

But for all that, The Beatles hadn't performed in America. With the Sullivan show, they had one of the biggest stages in the country.

3. Who was there?

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – Rita Stamp was one of many young people around the world who were caught up in "Beatlemania" when the famous band first visited the United States in February 1964. Stamp, now 67, will never forget finding this photo of the Beatles (complete with facsimile autograph by George Harrison) in a pack of bubble gum. "This photo is my earliest memory of the Beatles because, at least, I was able to see what they looked like and that gave me the ability to connect with their music."

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – Diane Salsbery of Phoenix has collected Beatles memorabilia for 50 years. "Most of the memorabilia that I have includes articles from magazines, concert programs, the script from 'A Hard Day's Night,' a Beatles poster from '16' magazine, the Christmas record, and almost all of the original albums and singles including the DJ copy of 'Please, Please Me.'"

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – After many months of following The Beatles' every move, Rebecca James finally got to see them perform live at the Indiana State Fair in September 1964. She still has the ticket stub.

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – "We were in the nosebleed section at the Coliseum and barely heard a note for the screaming," James said. "The amplifiers were very small by today's standards."

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – James snapped this photo of Paul McCartney driving by in August 1964 while visiting her brother in Detroit. "I heard screaming and learned that The Beatles were staying at a nearby hotel," she said. "I took off and hung around the hotel driveway and was lucky enough to get that photo." James recalls a girl fainting right in front of her -- a common sight during the height of Beatlemania.

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – The influence of Beatlemania also reached Venezuela in the 1960s, where Marines Lares says teenage boys formed bands to emulate the "Fab Four." "Many boys started to play electric guitars and they formed rock groups singing in English and in Spanish, sometimes translating the lyrics from English to Spanish, and other times composing their own lyrics in their native language."

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50 years on, the effects of 'Beatlemania' – Lifelong Beatles fan Kurt Bentzen of Denmark got this photo of Paul McCartney playing a concert in London in December 2009. He gives The Beatles some of the credit for his mastery of English.

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EXPAND GALLERY

CBS received 50,000 requests for the 728 seats in New York's CBS Studio 50, since renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater and now home to "The Late Show with David Letterman." Among the celebrities who attended either the live show or the dress rehearsal: Kathy and Nancy Cronkite (Walter's daughters) Randy Paar (talk-show host Jack's daughter) and Julie and Tricia Nixon (Richard's daughters, invited by Randy Paar). Also there: future Monkee Davy Jones, who performed with the cast of "Oliver!"

Though the audience loved them and millions of new fans were created that night, some reviewers were less enthusiastic. "The cynical turnover in teen-age trauma received recognition last night in the businesslike appearance of The Beatles on the 'Ed Sullivan Show,' " wrote the unimpressed New York Times TV critic Jack Gould. The ratings, however, were spectactular: 45.3% of U.S. TV households tuned in, representing 73 million people -- a record for an entertainment program up to that time.

From New York, The Beatles took a train to the nation's capital, where they played at the Washington Coliseum on February 11, then returned to New York for two Carnegie Hall concerts on February 12. Then it was off to Florida for the group's second Sullivan appearance -- a performance at Miami Beach's Deauville Hotel on February 16. The ratings for the second Sullivan show were almost as good as the first.

On February 22, The Beatles returned to Britain, where they were greeted by 10,000 fans at Heathrow Airport. The third Sullivan appearance, taped before the February 9 show, aired the next day.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving members of the Beatles, will get back together to play the star-studded "The Night That Changed America: A Grammys Salute to The Beatles," Starr said Monday.